What started out as a get-right game for the Knicks took a sharp U-turn when Brook Lopez blocked Jalen Brunson’s sH๏τ three minutes into the second half and Brunson immediately grabbed his shoulder, motioned to the bench and walked down the tunnel toward the locker room.
But he popped back out of the tunnel six minutes later, reentered the game to “MVP” chants and picked up where he left off — finishing with 44 points to secure his second 40-point game this season during the Knicks’ dominant 140-106 win over the Bucks on Sunday afternoon at the Garden.
Two days after the Knicks (26-14) were embarrᴀssed by the Thunder and booed off their home court amid a stretch in which they dropped four of five games, they sank 18 3-pointers to snap out of their funk and finished five points shy of their season high with Brunson, predictably, as the centerpiece.
“It says a lot about us,” Brunson said, “but we gotta continue it. I don’t really want to have a lot of bounce back days.”
Brunson erupted for 23 of the Knicks’ 36 points in the first quarter, hitting 7 of 11 sH๏τs, attempting seven free throws and mixing 3s with sH๏τs inside the arc for a balanced blend of scoring that had been missing in recent games.
That “just opens things up” for the rest of the offense, Josh Hart said. Brunson could drive and make plays from the paint. His early spike in 3-point attempts wasn’t intentional, Brunson said, but he made those, too.
“He’s a great player and he demands attention,” Hart said, “but obviously, when he gets it going like that, then obviously sometimes they start firing, they start blitzing him and everything’s kinda playing 4-on-3. And we’re able to just get open sH๏τs and play to our strengths.”
Then, when he stayed on the bench to start the second quarter, Karl-Anthony Towns (30 points) took over.
Back on Nov. 8, when the Knicks cruised past the Bucks in their first meeting of the season, Towns torched Lopez before Doc Rivers — amid what he called Milwaukee’s worst game of the season — switched Giannis Antetokounmpo onto Towns.
That matchup worked in the Bucks’ favor again to start Sunday’s game, with Towns limited to just five points in the opening quarter.
But by halftime, Towns had 18 points.
He kept driving with Antetokounmpo (24 points) on the bench and Bobby Portis inheriting the defensive ᴀssignment.
